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The Oldie Literary Lunches
Sponsored by Voyages to Antiquity
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TUESDAY 12th JUNE, 2012
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Isla Blair
on A Tiger's Wedding
From the lush hills of Kerala where she was brought up on a tea plantation, the Scots actress Isla Blair was despatched at the age of six to post-war austerity Scotland - a land of liberty bodices and chilblains. Then there was RADA. Then there was London in the swinging sixties. Isla Blair's story of her Indian childhood, Scots upbringing and launch into the theatre has received much praise and will no doubt be the subject of a fascinating talk.
"This is a wonderful book, reminiscent of Rumer Godden; I couldn't put it down." Joanna Lumley
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James Le Fanu on The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine
From Penicillin to Viagra by way of open heart surgery, test-tube babies, kidney transplants and a cornucopia of new drugs, medicine's Golden Age ranks among the greatest of all epochs of scientific discovery transforming all our lives for the better. But in recent years the rate of genuinely new and effective treatments has evaporated creating an intellectual vacuum filled by the promotion of unreasonable expectations about the current state of medical research, anxiety-mongering about trivial or non-existent threats to health, and the massive over-prescription of drugs of marginal benefit. Oldie columnist James Le Fanu's thrilling The Rise & Fall of Modern Medicine won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
Excellent Financial Times, Brilliant Daily Mail, Fascinating Daily Telegraph
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Anne Somerset
on Queen Anne
Queen Anne was one of Britain’s most remarkable monarchs. Her personal life was riven by passion, illness and intrigue while she publicly presided over some of the most momentous events in British history. Anne Somerset is the acclaimed biographer of Elizabeth I and the author of many books including Unnatural Murder, an account of the sensational Overbury murder.
“one of the most enjoyable biographies I’ve read in the past year, elegantly written and with an encyclopaedic grasp of the period. I loved every page of it….” Literary Review
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TUESDAY 10th JULY, 2012
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Peter Sissons
on When One Door Closes
When One Door Closes is the surprisingly funny and often poignant story of one of Britain’s most distinguished newsreaders. Peter Sissons enjoyed a hugely varied career, at times sparking debate and controversy – not least over his choice of tie while announcing the death of the Queen Mother. Now retired from broadcasting, he can finally lift the lid on his thoughts about the state of the British media, global affairs and what he really thinks of the BBC.
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Richard Davenport-Hines
on Titanic Lives
None of this year’s Titanic disaster commemorative books has been more highly praised than Richard Davenport-Hines’s, which looks at the disaster through the stories of the men who built and owned the ship, the crew who serviced her and the passengers of all classes who sailed on her.
‘Though it seems shameful to admit it, the one certain benefit we have derived from the tragedy is a shattering human story that is also, when told as well as Davenport-Hines tells it, utterly compelling.’ John Carey, Sunday Times
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Sandra Howard
on Ex-Wives
Kate Nichols had been married for just two years when her art dealer crashed his plane and died. A year on, still overwhelmed by grief, she meets and falls in love with documentary film-maker, Richard Marshall, a divorced father of two who is still very involved with his ex-wife. A brave reflection on love, grief and betrayal.
Sandra Howard is a popular Oldie friend and her fiction has a huge following.
'One of our most popular novelists.' Daily Mail
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TUESDAY 21st AUGUST, 2012
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OLDIE GALA 20th ANNIVERSARY LUNCH
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This year, The Oldie is 20 years old - while its remarkable editor reaches 75. To celebrate and commemorate both these events, we are inviting an array of Oldie contributors past and present to attend the lunch, to talk about their favourite Oldie Magazine experiences and read excerpts from the 20th anniversary Best of the Oldie 1992-2012 book. This will be a top lunch, full of humour and packed with familiar faces from the worlds of journalism, stage and screen. Barry Cryer and Edward Enfield confirmed.
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Other 2012 dates
September 18th, 2012
Ian Rankin
Piers Paul Read
October 16th, 2012
Prue Leith
November 13th, 2012
Ann Widdecombe
Simon Armitage
December 4th, 2012
Gyles Brandreth
December 11th, 2012
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